Controlling mechanism for automatic feeler-looms.



A. E. RHO'ADES.

CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC FEELER LOOMS.

-APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 9, 191 1.

1,020,622, Patented Mar. 19, 1912.

To all whom it concern Be it known that I, ALoNzo E. Rnoanns,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. A i

ALONZO E. RHOADES, 0F HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO DRAPER COM- PANY, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC FEELER-LOOMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Ma1x19, 1912.

Application filed November 9, 1911. Serial No. 659,287.

a citizen of the United States, and resident of Hopedale, county of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Controlling Mechanism for Automatic Feeler-Looms, of which the followmg description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a speclficatlon, l ke characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates particularly to looms wherein the filling in the working shuttle is replenished automatically prlor to complete exhaustion by or through the operation of a feeler mechanism, which mechanism acts when predetermined filling exhaustion is reached. When. said mechanism becomes active a fresh supply of filling is transferred automatically to the shuttle from a magazine or hopper in which the reserve supply of filling is stored, and in the welltion of the filling, to prevent empty or partly empty picks in the cloth, breakage of the running filling is detected by a suitable detecting instrumentality, which may be arranged to stop the loom when fillin breakage is detected. Feeler looms of t e type referred to t are also often provided with means to part the out-going filling between the cloth and the shuttle box at the filling changing side of the loom, so that the filling end will not be left where it may be taken back and woven into the cloth. A threadparting mechanism of this general character is shown in United States Patent No. 683,423 granted September 24:, 1901 to C. H. Draper. In a fully equipped automatic feeler loom such as has been outlined a peculiar fault of operation is sometimes found to exist, primarily due to inattention on the part of the weaver in allowing the hopper to become replenishment of filling, however, as the' hopper is empty, hence the shuttle is picked to the feeling side of the loom with the tion, and the last of the filling supplies has parted filling-end trailing after it, and usually this tralling end is caught in the shed part way across so that the filling-detector or fork will detect presence of filling when the shuttle is boxed at the feelin side of the loom. Consequently there will be no stoppage of the loom, but the cloth will contain a pick containing filling extending only a part of the way from one to the other selvage, andlthe feeler mechanism will again act, so that when the shuttle reaches the replenishing box the transferrer device and threadparting mechanism will be again brought into operation, with another parting of the filling. Again the shuttle is picked to the feeling side, and again a partly empty pick will be formed in the cloth, the intervening pick being a full one. This cycle may be repeated until the filling actually runs out and agehas been done, however, and the weaver must pick out the faulty portion of cloth until the perfect cloth is reached, before restarting the loom, causing loss of production of the particular loom involved, to say nothing of loss of production of any other looms of the set which may have stopped from one cause or another while the weaver has been picking out.

My present invention has for its object the production of very simple and eflicient means to prevent, primarily, the operation of the thread-parting mechanism, and secondarily, to prevent the operation of the replenishing mechanism, when filling replenishment is called for and there'is no fillingcarrier positioned for transfer from the hopper. Such arrest of operation of the threadthereon, the front trance of the filling filling replenishment is called for,

partin mechanism enables the shuttle to lay the fill ng continuously until it runs out and the loom is stopped. As long as the filling is presentthe cloth will be woven properly, and even should the fillin extend only partway across the cloth on t e last pick it can be quickly picked out, for then the weaving is promptly stopped. The operation of the tion will be fully described in the subjoined.

specification and particularly pointed out 1n the following claims.

Figure 1 is .a top planview, broken out at each side and centrally. of a sufiicient portion of an automatic filling-replenishing feeler loom, with one embodiment of my present invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional detail on the line 2-2, Fig. 1, looking toward the right, to illustrate more clearly the construction and operation of the' apparatus; Fig. 3 is a detail of the end of the shuttle-feeler on which the thread-parting mechanism is mounted,

to be referred to hereinafter; Fig. 4 is a detail showing a part of the inner end of the hopper, and the means for preventing the operation of when certain contingencies arise.

The lay A having shuttle-boxes B, B wall of the box B having for the intermittent enfeeler G into the shuttle D through a usual aperture in its side wall;

the usual opening the filling-detecting mechanism located at the feeling side of the loom and -including the detector or fork E, to detect presence or absence of filling when the shuttle is in the box B; the rock-shaft F which controls the operation of the replenishing mechanism, and the transmitting connections between said rock-shaft and the feeler C, the shipper G' and knock-off arm H adapted to be actuated to stop the loom when filling-absence is detected by the detector E, may be and are all of well known construction, and are substantially as in the Wood and Northrop patent referred to,

So, too, the filling-replenishing mechanism is substantially as shown in said patent and.

comprises essentially a magazine or hopper rotatably mounted on a stand I and sustaining the reserve supplies of filling, and a rocking transferrer J 'to transfer such supplies one by one from the hopper to the shuttle when the latter is in the box B and the inner or butt supporting plateK of the hopper shuttle-box B shuttle when the latter the thread-parting mechanism shuttle reaches the box B,

being shown in Fig. 4. A filling-carrier or bobbin positioned in the hopper for transfer is indicatedat- 'L, Figs. 1, 2 and 4. A shuttle-feeler and thread-parting mechanismislocated at the replenishing side of the loom, such as substantially shown in patent, ing mounted to swing rearward into operative position adjacent the mouth of the if the shuttle is properly boxed therein when filling-replenishment is called for by the feeler mechanism. The thread-parting mechanism indicated as a whole at N, is mounted on the feeler and said parts have a bodily movement to the right, Fig. 1, when moved into operative position, as in the Draper patent. a

As all of the mechanism thus far referred to are well known and familiar in construction and operation to those skilled in the art no detailed description thereof is necessary, but attention is directed to the fact that when filling-replenishment is called for by the feeler mechanism the rock-shaft F is turned and ordinarily the shuttle-feeler will move the thread-parting mechanism to operative position, prior to the operation of the transferrer' J. stated that the parting mechanism will be operated on the forward beat of the lay to part the filling between the cloth and the is boxed for replenishment, whether or not a fresh filling-carrier is inserted in tures referred to. If thehopper is empty or there is no filling=carrier therein positione for'transfer there will ing, and the quantity in the shuttle after the operation 0 thread-parting mechanism N may be quite considerable, so that as the shuttle is picked from the box B" the filling-end will trail behind and will usually be caught in the shed partway across. will detect the presence offilling remaining of filling as the shuttle enters box B, Fig. 1, and the feeler C will again call for filling replenishment, so that the transferrer and the thread-parting mechanism will again operate when the as before'described. This cycle of operation makes a partly filled pick in the cloth on the flight of the shuttle from right to left, and a full pick on the return flight, the cycle repeating until the filling in the shuttle runs outan its absence is finally detectedby the fork E, whereupon the loom is stopped, and the bad cloth must be picked out by the Weaver.

I will now describe means for preventing such objectionable action, in accordance with my invention. The stand I is provided atits inner side with a hub-like bearin 1,

Fig. 1, in which is mounted a rock-sha 2 parallel to the axis of the transferrer J, the inner end of said shaft having attached to it the Draper above noted, the shuttle-feeler Ml'be- V f the Also, it should be i be no change of'fill- Then the detector E a rearwardly extended, bent arm 3 having at its end a downward hook 4. At its outer end the rock-shaft 2 has attached to it a rearwardly extended and lip-curved arm 5 adjacent the outer face of the butt Supporting plate K of the hopper, said arm resting upon and being upheld in normal position by the butt of a'filling-carrier L in transferring position. When the arm 5 is thus upheld it operates through the rockshaft 2 to hold the arm 3 uplifted in the position shown in the drawings, but if the hopper is empty or there is no filling-carrier in-transferring position the weight of the arms 3 and 5 causes them to descend until the hooked end4of arm 3 is in dotted line position, Fig. 2. This brings the hooked end 4 into the path of movement of a shoulder 6 on the shuttle-feeler M as the latter is moved toward operative position when filling replenishment is called for, and thereby said' shuttle-feeler will be arrested, see Fig. 3, before it has reached the point at which the parting mechanism N can part the thread. Hence the old filling end will not be parted when the shuttle is boxed at B, and as the s'huttle-feeler is h'eld from itsfull rearward movement it acts through the usual means to prevent the operation of the replenishing mechanism, practically as if the shuttle were improperly boxed for replenishment. The

withholding from operation of the threadparting mechanism when such operation is called for by the feeler mechanism is the important feature, as thereby the shuttle will continue to lay the filling without a break until it runs out and the loom is stopped, but the prevention. of a barren operation of the replenishing mechanism is highly desirable, and this results from the non-o eration of the parting mechanism, as will e -ma;nifest. As the arm 3 when in active position restrains the thread-parting mechanism from operating such arm may be termed the detent member, and the arm 5 is termed the detector member, or detector, as it detects the presence or absence of a fillingcarrier in transferring position in the hopper, and such member 5 controls the member 3 as to its active or inactive position. The curved rear end of the detector 5 enables the butts of the filling-carriers to move.

thereunder easily as the hoptper is moved intermittingly to present the Hing-carriers one by one to transferring position. Descent of the detector 5 to actively position the detent member 3 is limited by the part of the hopper stand I which sustains the abutment I", the detector at such time descending between the end. late' K of the hopper and the adjacent end of the abutment. The detent 3 is bent or ofi'set as shown in Fig. 1 soas to bring its hooked end 4 into the path of movement of the shoulder 6 on'the shuttle-feeler'.

As will be seen the controlling means embodyin tion, adds very little to the loom structure, and is direct and effective in its operation.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a loom, in combination, filling-replenishing mechanism having a hopper to contain a plurality of filling-carriers, and a transferrer to transfer them sin ly to the shuttle prior to complete exhaustlon of the filling therein, a thread-parting mechanism normally operating to part the old filling when the operation of the replenishing mechanism is called for, a swinging support for said thread-parting mechanism, provided with a shoulder, and means, maintained inactive by or through cooperation with a filling carrier positioned for transfer, to prevent the operation of the threadparting mechanism if no filling-carrier is in transferring position, said means comprising a rock-shaft mounted on a fixed part of the hopper, a detent member having a hooked end adapted to engage the shoulder of the swinging support, and a detector, both fixedly attached to said rock shaft, the detector being extended rearwardly to rest upon the butt of a filling-carrier is transferable position. and being thereby upheld to maintain the hooked end of the detent member out of engagement with the shoulder on the swinging support, absence of a filling carrier in transferring position permitting the detector to descend and turn said rock shaft and thereby lower the hooked end of and operatively position the detent member, the rear end of the detector being upcurvcd to enable the butts of successive filling carriers to move easily thereunder and uphold the detector as said filling carriers are positioned for transfer.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALONZO E. RHOADES.

Witnesses:

Ronnn'r JANmsoN, E. D. Osoooo.

my invention is of simple construc- 

